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Crystal MoralesProfessor Eric KufsENG 114B25 April 2016Modern Day Slavery In The United StatesAccording to the 13th amendment in the United States Constitution, December 18th, 1865,was the day slavery ended, but is that completely true? In the U.S. alone there are over 50,000people working in forced labor. Modern day slavery still exists and the government shouldchange visa requirements and provide safer job opportunities for foreign workers. Victims thatare lured in by labor traffickers by promising great opportunities and basically a better life thanthe one they have already. Once these victims are captured, it is hard for them to regain theirfreedom. Victims are taken away from their families and homelands, and are forced to work in avariety of countries that are foreign to them, including the United States.A majority of people originate from different countries all over the globe and aretrafficked into the United States because there is a large market for their services. In CarolGiacomos Are Your Food and Clothes Produced with Slave Labor, the author states how mostconsumers have bought something produced by slave labor, from food to clothes and the UnitedStates is the worlds biggest importer. Domestic services are the second highest incidences offorced labor that occurs in the United States. The U.S. laws prevent domestic workers fromhaving a voice because they are not considered employees according the National RelationsLabor Act. Their requests for higher wages and better treatment is denied due to the fact thatmost of these victims, are immigrants.

Morales2Most victims of labor trafficking are identified in various ways, some immigrants, otherswomen and most are children. Child labor is one of three different forms of labor trafficking andis a hazardous type of work. It can affect a childs physical health by causing bruising on thebody, mental health by causing PTSD, and emotional health by causing depression. This type ofwork can interfere with a childs education as well. According to the Office On Trafficking inPersons, over 246 million children all over the world are involved in debt bondage, forcedrecruitment for armed conflict, illegal drug trade, and other illegal activities. Children andwomen are overwhelmingly trafficked because of their lack of rights and their overall statuscompared to men.Neha Misra, a Solidarity Center Senior Specialist, states, Trafficking in persons hasbecome a big business, globally it is a $32 billion industry. Labor trafficking often goesundetected and is not a topic really talked about in todays society. When most people think ofhuman trafficking, they assume it is just people captured and used for prostitution, but it is farmore than that. It is not really thought about where most of our food and clothes actually comefrom and what types of abuse go on to the victims who make them. The agricultural sectorprobably experiences one of the highest occurrence of forced labor in the United States.Due to the increasing number of undocumented workers, the absence of labor standardsand regulations, immigrants have no legal protection. Perpetrators use threats, torture and verbalabuse especially because the victims are uneducated, have no family or social connection, andfear deportation. This causes the victims to become extremely dependent on those who hold themcaptive and often find themselves losing their sense of control. Depending on their captivators,usually they delay or most of the time prevent the victims from escaping the labor work, when allthey wanted was a better life for themselves.

Morales3Some of Americas most vulnerable immigrant workers are victims of modern dayslavery. According to U.S. Admits Modern-Day Slavery Exists at Home, Jennifer Turner stateshow a young man named Prakash Adhikari left his village in Nepal to look for a better life tohelp his family. A labor recruiter he met along the way, falsely promised him work in high endhotels and restaurants. He was then held against his will in Iraq and him as well as dozens ofother men were transferred to do labor work for a U.S. company called Daoud & Partners. Heand 11 others were later on executed along the way.Since 2003, it is insanely common for thousands of foreigners to work on U.S.government contracts in some of the most dangerous parts of the world such as Iraq andAfghanistan. Abusive employers are found to be empowered by a system that allows a criminaloffense of obtaining money to make it difficult for workers to declare their rights. These victimsare coached to create a cover story when people approach them and ask them what their reasonof being here is. Most lie and say they are tourist or Students. It is difficult to identify avictim of labor trafficking, mainly because they keep it very low-key, and if a victim is able toescape, they face difficult health issues for the rest of their life.One of the most popular health impacts of labor trafficking is physical abuse. Accordingto the Office On Trafficking in Persons, scars, headaches and hearing loss are the least of theworst. Most victims get respiratory and/or cardiovascular problems or even limb amputation. Thepsychological effects these victims experience, is shame, humiliation, confusion, anxiety,phobias. Strategies to help allow these works to escape safely from this horrible type of work,will make a huge difference in a persons life.A few ways to solve this problem is that the government can enforce policies to helpprevent this from happening or to save those who have already gone through it, is by acting on it

Morales4rather than saying something will be done. People believe that actions speak louder than words.The U.S. Immigration laws contribute to labor trafficking happening by not offering otheropportunities like changing visa requirements for foreign workers so they can change employers(Buckley, 3). It would make a difference by decreasing the helplessness of workers and couldprevent them accidently falling into forced labor thinking it is something better. A way to addressthe core root of the problem is to fight against it using the federal Trafficking Victims ProtectionAct (TVPA).There are three different types of Trafficking Victims Protection Acts. The first one is theact of 2003 is a federal, civil right of action for trafficking victim to be able to sue theirtraffickers. It also adds human trafficking to the list of crimes charged against the trafficker andprotects the victims and their families from deportation. The second one is the act of 2005, whichprovides a program to shelter minors who have escaped and also provides a $5 million programfor treatment of trafficking victims abroad. The last TVP Act is the the act of 2008. It states howthe government has created new systems to gather and report human trafficking data. Allunaccompanied illegal children are screened as potential victims of human trafficking whichenhances criminal sanctions against the traffickers and expands different ways trafficking can beexpressed to make the prosecution process easier.In conclusion, modern day slavery still exists whether people know it or not, its out therein different countries especially the United States. The only thing most foreign workers want is abetter life financially. There are some laws enforced to help prevent this from happening topeople, but what about the people who have been or are still going through it? Helping providesafer work for illegal immigrants You cannot blame the victims either, they come from poor partsaround the world and are promised plenty money and a better life than the one they already had.

Morales5Jennifer Turner asserts that human beings should not be blamed, but the government should actagainst human trafficking.

Slave labors produce products most consumers buy, from food to clothing, the onlyreason why most people dont know of this is because the trafficking occurs in secret.About 29 million victims are trafficked worldwide and are stuck working 7 days a weekcreating popular name brand clothing, especially fake high brand clothing includingGucci, Chanel and Nike. Trafficking exists from the money made from it. The U.S. is theworlds greatest importer. A bill has been introduced by Carolyn Maloney which is alegislation that requires companies that have global gross receipts of about $100 million,need to publicly disclose any measures they have taken to prevent human trafficking,slavery and child labor as part of their annual reports to the Securities and ExchangeCommission.

Trafficking a person is a big business globally. It is a $32 billion industry involves about161 countries, the U.S. included. In such places such as the United States, Europe andJapan have seen an increase in cases of immigrant teachers, nurses, construction workersand even service workers, basically anyone who holds a valid visa. Summed up, humantrafficking is an increasingly legitimate business. The media portrays traffickers asorganized criminal tactics or underground black marketers. Trafficking for laborexploitation often goes undetected and gets little to no attention. In 2010, about 400 Thai

Morales7migrant workers who were trafficked to the U.S. were investigated by the U.S. JusticeDepartment. It was explained that the Thai workers took a crushing debt ranging from$9,500 to $21,000. After arriving to the U.S., their passports were taken away and theywere put in a small house and if they complained or fled, they could be fired, arrested,and deported.

There are three types of labor talked about in this article; child, bonded, and forced labor.Bonded labor is also considered debt bondage and is the least known type of labortrafficking but it is the most used method to enslave people. This has no relation towardthe liquidation of debt, it is far greater than an original sum of money borrowed. Forcedlabor is when victims are forced to work under their own will under the threat of violenceor a far worse punishment. Freedom is restricted, and forms of forced labor includedomestic servitude, agricultural labor, sweatshop factories, food service, etc. Those whoare trafficked expect something far better, but end up getting the worst possible thingdone to them. The last form of labor is child labor. Child labor is when children areforced to work in hazardous and dangerous areas that affect a childs education mentaland/or physical health.

Buckley, Chrissey. Forced Labor in the United States: A Contemporary Problem in Need of aContemporary Solution. University of Denver website. Topical Research Digest, n.d. Web. 24Apr. 2016.

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In this source, the author Chrissey Buckley talks about labor trafficking both as a wholeand here in the United States. She provides information that most people like myself didnot know about when it came to human trafficking. In this PDF, she talks about the50,000 victims are trafficked from all over the globe to work just in the United States.Most victims that are targeted are illegal immigrants looking for a better life, women, andchildren (mainly because they have less power over men). These victims are promised alife full of wealth and education but end up getting lied to and forced to work againsttheir will. If the victims do not cooperate or listen to the traffickers, they are thenphysically or sexually abused and/or threatened. The author then states how the lack oflegal protections and legal means of migration to the U.S. is a big issue, causing people torely on these methods as their way to enter the country.

Turner, Jennifer. "US Admits Modern-Day Slavery Exists at Home." American Civil LibertiesUnion. N.p., 24 June 2014. Web. 25 Apr. 2016. In this article, the author Jennifer Turner talks about how nowadays, the most vulnerablelabor workers are victims of modern day slavery. They are protecting the U.S.government but the U.S. government is not protecting them. According to an annualTrafficking Persons Report in 2014, trafficking and forced labor still does exist inAmerica. The author then goes on to talk about a young boy named Prakash Adhikariwho left is village in Nepal in 2004 to find a better life for his family. He then met a laborrecruiter along the way who made false promises of Adhikari working in a five star hoteland having a better life than he had at that moment. It turned out he was lied to and was

Morales9forced to work against his will in Iraq for the United States government subcontractorcalled Daoud & Partners. He and eleven others were then executed.